October 12, 2011 12:41am EDTOctober 11, 2011 3:58pm EDTStephen Garcia can be blamed for blowing a fifth chance at South Carolina, but what about the coach and school that kept giving him those extra chances?

I don’t blame Stephen Garcia. I blame the enablers; those who knew South Carolina’s troubled quarterback had significant social problems—yet kept giving him chance after chance because he could throw a football.

Why isn’t South Carolina coach Steve Spurrier held accountable? What about athletic director Eric Hyman or university president Harris Pastides?

Instead, the shame and ridicule points directly at the guy who blew a fifth chance.

Those at South Carolina will claim they tried to help Stephen Garcia. The truth is, they just gave him a bigger shovel to dig a bigger hole.

If reports today are true—that Garcia failed alcohol and drug tests—South Carolina’s dismissal of Garcia is even more disturbing because it paints a clear picture about a person (not a player) screaming for help.

Of Garcia’s previous five incidents at South Carolina, three were alcohol-related: public drunkenness, underage drinking and drunken and disruptive behavior at an SEC leadership event. That last incident—going into his fifth year in Columbia—led to an unthinkable fifth chance to make things right.

The quarterback himself said in a text message to the Associated Press that he was "shocked and completely flabbergasted to be honest" by the dismissal. He also told the AP he would have a full statement later in the week.

Maybe instead of doing everything they could to keep Garcia eligible in hopes of winning big in the meatgrinder SEC, South Carolina could have suspended him for a year three chances ago—and there wouldn’t be so many losers in this sad tale.

Instead, we have Spurrier refusing to speak to the media because of a “negative” columnist—on the same day Garcia is dismissed.

There’s no other way to look at it: Garcia blowing a final chance reflects directly on Spurrier, the no-excuses coach who changed everything he was for one player. The only consolation is he’s not alone.

The entire athletic department is complicit, and the harsh reality is this isn’t over, not by a long shot.